Dylan West's Revelation Scene
by StrangerInAStrangeWorld
Summary: Dylan West, a seemingly very, very ordinary teen, gets up to do a math equation. Unfortunately for him, he also ends up revealing the superpower he's been trying so desperately to hide. Read and review, please.
1. Chapter 1

_Here's a little story I whipped up while watching _Zoom: Academy for Superheroes _for the millionth time. I'd ask you guys to read and review, but that seems so overused…_

That song's going through my head, the one that's always on the radio, but I can never remember its name. I barely even follow my schoolwork, so it's no surprise that I don't know this. I'm already known as that loser with no future, or no life, and that's how it's been since I was in elementary school. As some kids learned algebra at light speed or memorized the spelling words, I didn't have a special talent at all, unless you count the power of being really, really average. And that's how my reputation stayed. Never a popular jock, but not a social outcast either. Just…me.

I tap out the rhythm on my desk. At the back of the room, Mr. Davidson shouldn't be able to hear me. Not if he's talking on and on about math or chalking long strings of numbers on the board. Just my luck—he does.

"Dylan!" he calls. Somehow this guy makes everything seem like an order. Taking a few steps towards me, he says, "Perhaps you'd like to come up and finish Newton's equation?"

Crap. Actually, I'm thinking a lot worse than crap, but if I start to blurt out my thoughts by accident again, that's a word they can't give me a detention for.

"I think Newton can finish his own equation," I tell him. My classmates giggle. I'm not quite sure if it's because they want to see me get in trouble again, or because I'm actually funny for a change.

Mr. Davidson frowns. "Now, Dylan," he says, making that come-hither gesture you see in bad horror movies.

I scrape my desk back, taking as long as possible to get to the front of the room. I have no idea what Newton's equation is, and I'm desperately trying to remember. And I can feel everyone staring at my back. Everyone knows that I don't know it, so why does this old teacher want me to do it?

I grab the chalk, still scrambling for ideas. Where was I when he went over this? Probably off in daydreams, as the principal always says, or maybe skipping. Finally a list of numbers pops into my head, and I start writing it down. That's when I feel my body tingle, just a little bit. Even in the dead of winter, our school has the AC up too high. It's always freezing, no matter where you are on campus. I try to focus, to get my thoughts down on paper. The shivering feeling grows stronger and spreads. The rest of the class is whispering, shifting in their chairs. That really doesn't help my concentration, but these people never shut up. I finish up the equation, and that's when I see my hand. Or rather, I don't see it.

See, I'm not as ordinary and normal as everyone thinks. Sure, I'm no geek or superstar athlete. But what no one else knows is that I can turn invisible. It's impossible, freaky, abnormal. And that's why I can't get myself noticed. I thought I had control, or at least some ability to hide this power of mine. Obviously not, if I'm getting embarrassed enough to turn myself invisible in the middle of class. Now everyone knows exactly what kind of freak I am. Not just the stupid, slacker type of freak, but able to do something that no person should be able to do. One girl makes a startled yelp as I let the chalk fall from my fingers. Knowing that I can't stop it now, I drop the little stub of chalk in the tray and turn around.

As my body rushes back into view, like blood into a finger that you've been squeezing tight, I can see my classmates' stunned faces. Mr. Davidson is actually on his feet, mouth open. That goth kid in the middle of the class exchanges a look with the popular, lip-glossed girl next to him. Someone rubs his eyes. Me, I just press my lips together and rock a little on my heels.

_I may or may not write a sequel to this, detailing his life after this scene. If not, I'll just tidy up the ending._


	2. Chapter 2

_Alright, fine. My ending was hardly adequate, so I wrote a sequel to what I thought was a one-shot. My readers thought different. _

Everyone is staring at me. Everyone. My bored, why-am-I-even-here teacher looks shocked. The kids who never noticed me are suddenly paying attention, in a freaked-out way.

Now I'm actively trying to turn invisible. No such luck. When it's obvious to me that I have no juice left, I do what any mature teen would have done in the situation: I calmly walk back to my seat and sit down, ignoring the looks people are giving me.

Kidding, of course. I turn and run for it. Mid-step, I shiver into invisibility again, powers having finally decided to work. Excellent timing, self.

Naturally, halfway down the hall, I slam into my biology teacher. A sharp-looking, but kind enough person. Not so bad lady. She is, however, observant enough to notice that no one was in front of her before we collided, and suddenly I've appeared. Mostly, with the right side of my body still filling in. We stare at each other for a second.

"D-Dylan?" Mrs. Rainier asks incredulously.

I wish I had a witty response, like people always have in movies even under mountains of stress. I don't, so all that comes from me is a squeak before I flicker out again and flee.

I'm not really conscious of where I am as I am running, only that I'm really lightheaded and shaking all over. When I stop, I am fully visible beneath a tree outside our school. And then I'm floating in a sea of black. When my eyes finally open- I've fainted, I must have- I am still under the tree. With people crowding around me. I can't have been out very long if school isn't out.

The spectators are mostly my classmates, but the school nurse is there, and so is Mr. Davidson. Can't he pass up an opportunity to torment me just this once? I sit up slowly. i consider disappearing again, and I feel that special chill for a second. People's eyes widen and they begin to murmur.

_Well done, idiot_, I think. _You've proved beyond a doubt that you are nothing close to normal. _

Before I can summon an ice-breaker from my memories, the nurse and Mr. Davidson grab me. Nurse-lady, who I've tried to avoid for fear that any examination might show my abnormalities, says,

"Well, he's clearly stable enough to go the infirmary and see what's wrong with him."

My blood doesn't run cold, and my heart doesn't stop either, like people say in books. But I do feel a burst of fear and horror that prompts a shiver into partial invisibility for a second. I'm still out of juice, though, so all it provokes is a brief start from my classmates in the front row.

When they've got me in the infirmary, my blood pressure is tested, I get weighed, all that boring medical stuff. Finally Nurse-lady sits me down.

"Dylan, these limited instruments can't find anything immediately wrong with you. Have you been feeling okay recently? Any reason why you would be..." She trails off, unwilling to sound crazy. Having stuck around after making sure that I was safely here, Mr. Davidson has no such issues.

"Turning invisible. That's what it is." My teacher's tone sounds almost disgusted, with a dash of horror.

I scowl. "Nothing's _wrong_ with me, dude." I clam up. They think I'm a freak, it's clear. I'm not helping them._  
_

Davidson frowns back. "Invisibility isn't normal. There is clearly something wrong with you."_  
_

Nurse looks at him worriedly, but I ignore that. I burst out, "You think I don't know that?! It just-just happens to me!"

"What happens to you?" The speaker is my father. He's just come to the door with my mother, who trails after him like they're tied together on a string. Maybe they are, for science. My parents are professors at the local college, and prone to random social experiments. He nods a greeting to Mr. Davidson, since they were friends in college, and gives no greeting to Nurse-lady.

"Invisibility, Robert. Your kid turns _invisible _on a dime_." _Davidson says.

My dad smiles lightly, my mother laughing behind him. "Good joke, but if you called us down here just for that, you should have made it better."

The nurse, whose name, according to a sign on her desk, is Samantha Waller, laughs nervously with them. "We can't find anything physically wrong with Dylan, but my colleague isn't joking. According to the kids in his math class, and his biology teacher, Dylan was writing a problem on the board, turned invisible, and promptly reappeared. He then ran from the classroom, invisible again, changed back when he ran into Mrs. Rainier, and was found passed out under the tree."

My parents' friendly expressions vanish. "The joke isn't that funny anymore, Ms. Waller." My mother snaps. "We need to know if Dylan needs any medical attention."

"No, no, no, I'm _fine_ without a hospital, just fine, really." I stammer. Living with two geniuses, you learn a lot about the world. Like the fact that people, even in America, still sometimes shun people based on skin color, on their subculture, on religion. Anything will do, if it's different. Scientists have performed horrible experiments on black people and Jewish people, because they had their rights stolen and couldn't fight back. It isn't hard to imagine that someone who can do something humanly impossible would be similarly treated.

My parents look at me. Noticing my nervousness, my dad says, "Dylan, are you really okay? You don't look okay, and I don't trust these clowns to diagnose you." He throws a sharp glare towards Ms. Waller and Mr. Davidson.

_Funny you should mention_ looking _okay_, I think. It's at that moment that embarrassment and anxiety flood me, along with a wave of cold. I go right past the appearance of clear glass that I've been partially passing into since I woke up and into full invisibility. My father jumps back, thunderstruck expression on his face. My mom actually screams.

I waver back into view when she does, wincing a bit. My mom can really scream. They both sit down hurriedly on those weirdly shiny bed-things sick kids lie on.

"Wh-what? Impossible!" My dad declares. "Nothing can just disappear." He rubs his eyes. My mom just sits there in shock, staring.

Might as well come clean if they've seen me do it. "I can," I admit. "

Mr. Davidson looks triumphant. I swear that I can hear him say, beneath his breath, "I knew freaks like you existed!"

"If something gets me scared enough, or embarrassed enough..." I curl my fingers into a loose fist and flick them out again. "Poof. It just...happens."

My dad sucks in his breath. "But...impossible." My mother whispers. She ought to know. My mom used to work in a government think tank. Something about genetic engineering, about what traits were possible to display.

I clear my throat. "Can I go now? Please?"

When I don't get a response, I stand up and flicker out. I leave and find my parent's cars. I'll ride with my dad. He won't be in hysterics.

My parents return to their cars. My dad unlocks it, and soon enough, he's taking me home. Asking questions while he does it. I can't tell if they're to himself or me.

"Why?"

"How is this happening?"

"What now?"

His guess is as good as mine. I pile out of the car. My stuff's at school, but whatever. No one's going to care about homework when you've just vanished in the middle of class. I play video games for the rest of the day. No multiplayer. People are trying to send me electronic messages already. I sleep when I've finished. No dinner. I've had enough life for today.

_So, I worked on this instead of my Young Justice story, called Old Mantle, New Mission. I bet I'll expand this too. Review please._


End file.
